Part 4 — Report Details · Chapter 4.17

Request to First Visit

This chapter explains the Request to First Visit report. The rules every report shares are in chapter 4.1.

What it shows

The average number of days from a customer’s request to the first technician visit, in each month, quarter or year. It covers work that goes straight to a visit, such as service calls. Quoted work has its own report, Quote Approval to First Visit (chapter 4.18).

What you need to do to make it work

  1. Classify your visit activities. A visit is an activity on the work order, and BigWave cannot tell from its name whether a technician goes on site. An administrator opens Reports > Setup > Activity Classification, ticks each activity name that is a site visit, such as Scheduled Visit, presses Classify Selected…, picks Technician visit under Counts As and presses Classify. An activity name left unclassified never counts as a visit, and a line under the chart says how many names are waiting.

    The Activity Classification tab in Reporting Setup with the Classify dialog open. The Classify Selected... button, three ticked activity names and the Counts As list are boxed in red
    The Activity Classification tab in Reporting Setup with the Classify dialog open. The Classify Selected... button, three ticked activity names and the Counts As list are boxed in red

  2. Record when the visit really started. Only an actual start counts. A scheduled date does not, because a visit can move or never happen. Check that each visit has an Actual Start on the work order’s Schedule and Assign page. If it is blank, press Complete… on the visit’s row, or use the pencil beside its dates, to enter when it began.

    A work order's Schedule and Assign page. The activity names and the Actual Start column are boxed in red
    A work order's Schedule and Assign page. The activity names and the Actual Start column are boxed in red

  3. Map your quote-sent status. The report leaves out quoted work, and it knows a work order was quoted when it reached Quote Sent. An administrator maps that status in Reports > Setup > Milestone Mapping. Without it, quoted work is counted here too.

    The Milestone Mapping tab in Reporting Setup with the Map dialog open. The Map Selected... button, a ticked status and the Milestone list are boxed in red
    The Milestone Mapping tab in Reporting Setup with the Map dialog open. The Map Selected... button, a ticked status and the Milestone list are boxed in red

  4. Enter the Request Received date when the request came in earlier than the work order. By default the clock starts when the work order was made. Enter the real date on the Create Work Order form, or on the work order’s Details panel: press Edit, fill in Request Received on the Details tab and press Ok.

    The Edit Work Order Details dialog on its Details tab. The Request Received and Quote Followed Up date fields are boxed in red
    The Edit Work Order Details dialog on its Details tab. The Request Received and Quote Followed Up date fields are boxed in red

  5. For business days, enter your holidays in Actions > Setup > Holiday Schedule (chapter 2.1).

Where the data comes from

  • The activities on your work orders: their names and actual start times.
  • The status changes on your work orders, from the audit log.
  • The Request Received dates entered on your work orders.

How it is worked out

For each work order that never reached Quote Sent:

  1. BigWave finds when the request came in: the earliest of the Request Received date and any status mapped to Request Received, or else the moment the work order was made.
  2. It finds the first visit that started after that. A visit is an activity classified Technician visit with an actual start. A status mapped to First Visit Started also counts.
  3. The days between the two are the work order’s figure.

Each period shows the average of its work orders. Chart Data also shows the median.

What counts

  • A work order that reached Quote Sent is not in this report at all.
  • A work order with no visit started yet is in no period.
  • Warranty and unbillable visits are not first visits. Only activities classified Technician visit count.
  • A deleted or cancelled work order does not count.
  • Projects narrows the report to the work orders in the projects you tick.

Work orders left out

A work order whose only visits started before its request date is left out, with the reason “reached First Visit Started only before Request Received”. View records lists them on the Left Out of Report tab.

Which date puts it in a period

The day the first visit started, on your company’s calendar.

Options

  • Count picks Calendar days or Business days. Calendar days is the default.
  • Group By offers Company, Customer, Region, Technician and Project.

Checking a figure

Press Chart Data, then View records on a row. Each work order shows where its request date came from, the visit that started first with its start time, and the days between. Click a work order number to open it in a new tab.